Prime isn't the norm

Prime can inspect and interact with magic via devTools not unlike browser devTools (Hit F12 in Chrome to see what I mean). This way he’s able to see functions, variables, runtime logs, errors, adjust and rewrite code, as well as put pause breakpoints into other people’s magic functions while they are running. His ability to modify other people’s code beyond pausing it can only be done with the permission of the person he’s modifying. This ability is Incredibly over powered, and with Prime's maxed out resistances to all forms of magic, there isn't anything that another person's spell could do to him directly, though he could still be hurt by the effect of the magic. What the SysAdmin Beam granted Prime, was essentially "Limited Developer Access" to this world instance that is running on his cosmic server. It would be similar to getting to play your favorite MMORPG with a Developer Admin account.

Other people in this world don’t interact with the magic the same way that he does but they are still bound by the way that it functions. There are very rare, and “powerful”, magic tools that will provide diagnostic abilities for magic. Like magic mirrors and such. But these are “national treasure” sort of items and hoarded by powerful people in magic academia. No one but Prime has the ability to actually pause and modify magic.

Magic Types

The types of magic that most people assume there are, are Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Gravity, Wind, Rock, Life, Death, Light, Shadow, and Illusion. All of these are a combination of different core types of magic though. Because all of these are mixtures of the core types, it’s possible for “new magic” to come up from time to time as different mixtures of the core types are found and things evolve to use those mixtures in different ways.

The 6 major core types are: Thermal [endo, exo], Fluid [thixo, rheo], Charge [attraction, repulsion], Mana [push, pull], Light [generate, restrict], Void[space, time]. Each major type is broken down into two minor types which are generally at opposites to each other.

Thermal

Thermal has Exotherm and Endotherm which are commonly thought of as Fire and Ice but in truth the power works by either generating heat or removing it by encouraging the vibration of molecules or restricting them. For example, the ability to conjure Ice has a strength in Endothermic magic with support from attraction and liquid manipulation, water molecules in the air are attracted to each other and condense, then manipulated to form structures as they freeze from the endothermic reaction. The ability to conjure fire is a strength in Exothermic magic with support from gas manipulation and mana push, oxygen in the air is condensed by gas manipulation and supplied with mana via mana push and ignited by exotherm.

Fluid

Fluid magic has less to do with generating fluid and more to do with controlling it. All phases of matter are bound by fluid dynamics, regardless of how "liquid" the state is. Thixotropic magic increases the rate at which the target matter can flow. When applied to mineral or metal targets that typically are "solid" at room temperature, they will become soft and malleable. Increasing the amount of magic applied will eventually cause the material to "melt" or begin to flow freely from gravity alone. When the magic is released, the target material will return to its natural state. Unlike the application of heat, Thixotropic magic will not agitate the material molecules causing a structural change in the material properties. Nor will the movement of the material in a softened state cause the generation of heat. Rheopectic magic applies the opposite material property effect in that it will "solidify" materials that are currently in a liquid state. Like Thixotropy, Rheopecty does not alter the material properties of the matter beyond how it flows, nor will it alter the temperature of the affected molecules. It is possible to apply Rheopecty to gaseous matter as well as liquid, resulting in a "solid" form of the target that has nothing to do with what the actual material in a solid state is like. This technique is most commonly seen in spells like [Wind Cutter] or [Water Arrow].

Charge

Charge magic is about Attraction and Repulsion. Lightning magic is the attraction of static electricity in the air or the generation of it with support from gas manipulation. The attraction holds the electricity in place as it discharges and repulsion forces the electricity away. Gravity does not actually do what it’s name implies but rather increases the attraction or repulsion of two objects. While Lightning works by attracting and repelling things on the atomic level, Gravity is doing the same thing but on much larger objects, often the ground and a target.

Mana

Mana magic revolves around pushing and pulling mana from the user. The mana that is manipulated is the intrinsic “life force” rather than what the target has access to for their own magic skills. What is considered “Life magic” or the ability to aid plants in growing or to heal people is really the user pushing their own mana into a target and that mana having an effect to stimulate growth. Literal for things like plants, and the body’s ability to regenerate for animals. It hasn’t been widely explored but it might be possible to rapidly grow or age animals or people as well. Pulling mana draws the mana out of a target but it doesn’t necessarily give that mana to the user. The result of having the “life force” mana drawn out is death so this is commonly considered to be “death magic”. With practice, it is possible to convert the mana drawn out into usable magic mana for the user or even to specifically target another’s magic/skill mana rather than their life force mana. The pushing of mana into things that have died and still retain some spirit can allow for the thing to regain a form of life depending on the amount of life mana fed to it. This is how “necromancy magic” functions, though being able to have any form of control over the revived thing requires the use of specific spells that bind the will of the target to the user.

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Light

Light magic is broken down into generation and restriction. Light generation is commonly referred to as simply “Light magic” and as the name implies has to do with creating and casting light. This magic rarely mixes with other core types but is still useful for creating lamps and other light sources that do not generate any heat. Shadow magic is actually the restriction of light from being able to pass or reflect around something. Often this effect is observed as a thick smoke that envelopes something. The ability to wrap light around an object, thereby making it invisible, is considered to be an advanced form of Shadow magic but it’s actually light generation and restriction working together. Likewise, “Illusion magic” is considered an advanced form of Light magic but is also both generation and restriction working together, but the ability to cast large scale illusions is unheard of as the amount of mana required would be staggering.

Void

Void magic is the least understood and the most difficult to master. It is named for the forces the exist outside of our conventional means of observation. The magic is split into Space and Time magic. Space magic has less to do with the volume that something takes up and more to do with where something exists in a multidimensional set of coordinates. The most common application of Space magic is in the creation of [Inventory] or [Storage] spaces. Scholars have long debated where exactly items go when they are in [Storage], or why some things can go in and others can't, but no one has reached a definitive conclusion. Time magic allows for the manipulation of a target's timeline on a local level. The application of which, has yet to be realized. Time magic is apparently involved in the creation of [Storage] spaces, as items do not rot or spoil, so it is assumed that Time stops moving when inside of a [Storage] space. Though this is all theory. No one has ever been able to successfully use Time magic and its existence is an assumed probability.

Magic Affinity

For normal people, they are born with an affinity to a specific type of magic, which is to say a specialty. The affinity that a person ends up with is largely inherited from their parents, but it still depends on the combination of core types that the offspring ends up with. The combinations of core types make up the affinity that a user has. Each person has 6 core slots, if you will, to be filled by one of the 10 different core types. The 6 types from one parent are added to the 6 from the other, and the offspring will end up with 6 types, randomly pulled from that pool. In this way, 2 parents that can both conjure fire, might not end up with a child that can; though the chances are high that the child will have an affinity for Thermic[Exo] based magic.

When 2 or more of the core types are present in an individual, that type is said to have a "Strength":

  2 of a type - Weak Strength

  3 of a type - Minor Strength

  4 of a type - Major Strength

  5 of a type - Master Strength

  6 of a type - Core Strength

Master, and Core Strengths are very rare, but aren't usually useful as they lack any support types that would aid in most common types of magic. Though for the minor type that they have the strength in, they are exceedingly powerful. The stronger the Strength of a minor type is for the user, the less mana is required to perform that magic. For example, a user with 1 Thermic[exo], 1 Fluid[gas], and 1 Mana[push] could conjure fire, but the amount of fire they could produce would be much less and cost them much more than a user that has 3 Thermic[exo], 2 Fluid[gas], and 1 Mana[push].

The "common types" of magic are registered as an "affinity" by the magical technology of the day according to these combinations:

Thermic [exo, endo] Fluid[thixo, rheo] Charge[attract, repel] Mana[push, pull] Light[generate, block] Fire 2+ exo 1+ rheo 1+ attract 1+ push Water 1+ rheo 1 attract, 1 repel Ice 2+ endo 1+ rheo 1+ attract Lightning 2 attract, 2+ repel 1+ push Gravity 3+ attract Wind 3+ rheo 1 attract, 1 repel Rock 3+ thixo 1 attract, 1 repel Life 3+ push Death 3+ pull Light 3+ generate Shadow 3+ block Illusion 2+ generate, 2+ block

Combinations of core magic types other than this certainly exist, though schools of magic will rarely bother with users that don't show a minimum of Strengths in the combinations above.